Covert Meetings
by Aeria
Summary: Kurt/Blaine. Cooper-fic. Sits loosely somewhere in my Cooper Verse with 'Theory of Relativity' and 'A Night In'. Cooper picks Kurt up from school for a heart to heart.


Title: Covert Meetings

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Casting spoilers for episode 15

Summary: Sits loosely somewhere in my Cooper Verse with 'Theory of Relativity' and 'A Night In'. This is mostly Kurt and Cooper with a surprise cameo by Blaine. Fluffy, headcanon-based fluff.

Words: 1500

A/N: Because I have become a bit obsessed with Cooper. Yupyup.

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><p>It's totally weird and completely out of line and Cooper knows that. It doesn't stop him though. He parks in the teacher's carpark of McKinley high, walks purposefully down the halls and manages to charm the receptionist.<p>

Ten minutes later he has pulled Kurt out of class and convinced him that learning isn't so important and to get in the car. That charming grin of his…

They're headed across town to, in Cooper's opinion, the only place capable of making a decent coffee.

Kurt watches him with narrowed eyes and his chin raised a little too high. Cooper's grinning and he'd winked at him across the classroom but all he has said since is, "Just thought we should get to know each other a bit better," and then he'd shushed him and turned the music up as he drove too fast with the windows down.

Cooper, somehow, knows Kurt's coffee order. The little café—completely out of place in Lima, Ohio—doesn't brew to Starbucks specifications but Cooper orders the equivalent and then batts his eyelashes—almost as stunning Blaine's—at the waitress and orders cake as well.

Kurt just watches him, expression slightly sardonic after fifteen minutes in the car. In his pocket, his fingers squeeze around his phone and he wonders if he should send off a frantic message to Blaine.

"So," Cooper begins, rubbing his hands together and beaming. "How are you Kurt?"

Kurt just narrows his eyes further. "Well I'm meant to be in French and I'm not sure what I'm doing here. But I'm fine."

"Thought we could do with a one on one meeting away from the prying eyes of my little brother."

Figured. Though Kurt has no idea what he could possibly want to talk about.

Cooper cocks his head to the side and considers before asking: "Do you love him?"

Well that has caught him off guard and he huffs and just stares.

"Your silence isn't really doing much for me right about now."

And Kurt hears it, just a glimmer of fear but it resonates of exactly the same frequency as the tone Blaine takes on when they're alone and he's talking about his old school or his father or heights.

Inside Kurt's ribcage his heart thumps and if last's night ridiculousness, all the gentle camaraderie and teasing, wasn't enough to make him see Cooper as their biggest ally, the way Blaine's big brother's brow is creasing as he waits without really breathing absolutely is.

"I love him," Kurt says, his own breath thready as he meets and hold Cooper's gaze.

They stare each other down, trying to work out where they really stand when hijinks are put aside. Cooper has been in this every step of the way, gotten emails and messages and then late night phone calls from Blaine for over a year. And still Kurt wasn't what he expected. And coming home for the first time in twelve months, everything silly and romantic and over the top, his little brother's bliss suddenly right in front of him, was terrifying. But stunning all at the same time.

Because he sees the way Blaine looks at him. In one night over dinner and embarrassment and laughter, he's seen the fierceness of the attachment in Blaine's eyes.

Their coffees arriving interrupts their staring contest and they both glance to the waitress as she pulls the cakes from the counter and sets them down. "Anything else?"

Cooper's face dissolves into a charming smile and he tells her, "Nope."

Kurt is already forking cake into his mouth. It's dark and chocolatey but his heart is still beating fast and it almost hurts.

"I didn't think he had any chance of being happy."

Kurt glances up. "We are, though."

Cooper shrugs. "After the dance. The Sadie Hawkins dance. I told him he'd be better off not being who he is."

Brow creasing, Kurt waits because Blaine's never told him that. He's told him that Cooper was there, that he was in the hospital by his side for days, but never this.

"I was completely wrong to say it, I know. But I believed it until he called me and told me about you." Cooper sips his coffee and he's a completely different person to the joker from last night.

Kurt almost feels the need to defend himself, to affirm that what he and Blaine have is everything. "I know it's only been a year—"

Cooper chuckles. "Longer. He called me and told me about you the first day he met you. On the stairs at Dalton and a perfectly rehearsed, arranged and choreographed impromptu performance by the Warblers. You remember. He was happy that day."

Kurt tilts his head and waits for more.

"Blaine called me and told me you were the one the very first day he met you. And he sounded so happy. And I told him he was being stupid. But that was the first time since the dance that I thought he was better off. Not being who he was would have meant he didn't get hurt, perhaps. But he would have completely missed you."

Cooper sighs and the conversation lulls. "Of course then he messed it up and got it into his head that you weren't ready for a relationship and he needed to be a knight in shining armour, not a lovestruck boy, to stay close to you."

Kurt watched him carefully.

"Then he called me and said he'd kissed you." He took a mouthful of his own cake. "He just blurted it out and then he apologized and said he knew I didn't want to hear that and that was the first time I said sorry for what I said to him after the dance and told him I was wrong and that I wanted to hear all of it."

Processing slowly, everything here new information, Cooper lets another silence stretch as they sip their coffees and eat their slices of cake.

"You didn't know he fell for you that first day, did you?"

Kurt shakes his head slowly.

"I think he's mostly forgotten about calling me."

And another silence as they both think. Cooper's phone vibrates in his pocket and he pulls it out and grins. He fires off a quick text, explaining. "He's going to come meet us here and tell me off for dragging you out of school."

Kurt just smiles. "I'm happy I make him happy," he says after a moment.

"Me too. How are you going to deal with New York?"

Kurt shrugs and can guess what Cooper means. Him and Blaine have thought about it too much and talked about it too little, far more interested in discussing the years to come when Blaine will be there with him. "It's nine months and I'll be coming home twice. He thinks he might be able to sneak up once or twice as well."

Cooper laughs. "Our parents will not approve of that!"

Kurt smiles. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah."

The conversation shifts then, Cooper happy with Kurt and Kurt still mulling over what he's learned and the unexpected feeling that Cooper's own happiness is now inexplicably tethered to his. They talk about Dalton and the uniforms and growing up in a small town. Then music and Cooper's disdain for Katy Perry numbers and they're laughing loudly about it when Blaine comes in, eyes narrowed and a crease of worry between his eyes.

He stops at the table, hands on his hips as he tries to find a third chair to pull up.

"Hey little brother!"

Kurt just arches an eyebrow indicating they've been up to no good.

Before Blaine can say anything though, Cooper's flipping his wallet open and sliding a twenty across. "Three more coffees and help yourself to a slice of cake."

Blaine sighs and walks off to find a waitress without saying a word.

Kurt just watches him with a grin, starting slightly when Cooper's hand lands on his elbow and he leans in close, whispering conspiratorially while keeping one eye on Blaine: "I almost forgot!"

He slides a key across the table and Kurt just stares dumbly down at it. "I keep an apartment in New York. Much nicer than shared college dorms. I'm only there during the week and only sometimes."

Kurt just gapes.

"For when Blaine comes to visit and you want some alone time."

Kurt blushes, well aware that Cooper knows far more about their sex life than he should because of last night.

"I'll email you but let's keep this one a secret from Blaine." Eyes twinkling as Cooper sits back in his chair, Kurt is just sliding the key into his pocket when Blaine drags a chair to the space between them and sits down, looking back and forth from one to the other.

"Talking about me?" he sulks, just slightly.

"Yes," they both answer in perfect time. Cooper laughs and Kurt just smiles, a hand over Blaine's in commiseration.

Rolling his eyes, Blaine fixes Kurt with a hard look. "You'll tell me later."

Kurt sighs, "I'll tell you eventually."

Content with that, Blaine turns back to his brother and tries to sound like the adult out of all of them. "Now you, I cannot believe you pulled him out of school."


End file.
